Asthma arises from the complex interplay of inflammatory pathways in diverse cell types and tissues including epithelial and T cells.
Multitissue Transcriptomics Delineates the Diversity of Airway T Cell Functions in Asthma.
Sex, Subject
View SamplesIntegration of multi-omics data remains a key challenge in fulfilling the potential of comprehensive systems biology.
OnPLS-Based Multi-Block Data Integration: A Multivariate Approach to Interrogating Biological Interactions in Asthma.
Sex, Age, Specimen part, Disease, Disease stage
View SamplesBackground: Although several studies link high levels of IL-6 and soluble IL-6 receptor (sIL-6R) with asthma severity and decreased lung function, the role of IL-6 trans-signaling (IL-6TS) in asthma is unclear. Objective: To explore the association between epithelial IL-6TS pathway activation and molecular and clinical phenotypes in asthma. Methods: Primary human bronchial epithelial cell (HBEC) air-liquid interface (ALI) cultures were stimulated with IL-6 and sIL-6R to establish an IL-6TS gene signature. Two separate RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) studies were performed: The “IL-6 vs T2 study” compared gene expression after stimulation with control medium, IL-6, IL-6/sIL-6R and IL-4/IL-13, while the “JAK1-inhibition study” addressed the effect of JAK1 inhibition on IL-6TS induced gene expression. The IL-6TS gene signature was used to stratify lung epithelial transcriptomic data obtained from asthmatics (n=103) in the U-BIOPRED cohorts by hierarchical clustering. Molecular phenotyping was based on the transcriptional profiling of epithelial brushings, pathway analysis and immunohistochemistry analysis of bronchial biopsies. Results: Activation of IL-6TS in HBEC ALI cultures reduced epithelial barrier function and induced a specific epithelial gene signature enriched in airway remodeling genes. The IL-6TS signature identified a subset (n=17) of IL-6TS High asthma patients with increased epithelial expression of IL-6TS inducible genes in absence of increased systemic levels of IL-6 and sIL-6R. The IL-6TS High subset had an increased exacerbation frequency (p=0.028), blood (>300/µl; p=0.0028) and sputum (>20%; p=0.007) eosinophilia, and submucosal infiltration of CD4 T cells, CD8 T cells (p<0.001) and macrophages (p=0.001). In bronchial brushings, TLR pathway genes were up-regulated while the expression of epithelial tight junction genes was reduced (all with q<0.05). Sputum sIL-6R levels correlated with sputum markers of remodeling and innate immune activation, in particular YKL-40, MMP3, IL-8 and IL-1ß (all with q<0.001). Conclusions: Local lung epithelial IL-6TS activation in absence of type 2 airway inflammation defines a novel subset of asthmatics and may drive airway inflammation and epithelial dysfunction in these patients. Overall design: Primary human bronchial epithelial cells grown and differentiated on air-liquid interface were stimulated basolaterally for 24h with cytokines corresponding to IL-6TS (IL-6 + sIL-6R), IL-6 alone, a Type 2 immune response (IL-4 + IL-13) or media alone as non-stimulated control. Each stimulation condition was done in triplicates. Cells were lysed, the RNA isolated and converted into libraries then used for next generation sequencing in order to identify genes that were up- or downregulated in response to the different stimulations.
Epithelial IL-6 trans-signaling defines a new asthma phenotype with increased airway inflammation.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesGene expression on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from SPARKS CHARMS juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) cohort pre and post methotrexate therapy. This is the first study to our knowledge, to evaluate gene expression profiles in children with JIA before and after MTX, and to analyze genetic variation in differentially expressed genes. We have identified a gene, which may contribute to genetic variability in MTX response in JIA.
Generation of novel pharmacogenomic candidates in response to methotrexate in juvenile idiopathic arthritis: correlation between gene expression and genotype.
Specimen part, Treatment, Subject
View SamplesAberrations in genes coding for subunits of the BAF chromatin remodeling complex are highly abundant in human cancers. Currently, it is not understood how these loss-of-function mutations contribute to cancer development and how they can be targeted therapeutically. The cancer type specific occurrence patterns of certain subunit mutations suggest subunit-specific effects on BAF complex function, possibly by the formation of aberrant residual complexes. Here, we systematically characterize the effects of individual subunit loss on complex composition, chromatin accessibility and gene expression in a panel of knock-out cell lines deficient for 22 targetable BAF subunits. We observe strong, specific and often discordant alterations dependent on the targeted subunit and show that these explain intra-complex co-dependencies, including the novel synthetic lethal interactions SMARCA4-ARID2, SMARCA4-ACTB and SMARCC1-SMARCC2. These data provide insights into the role of different BAF subcomplexes in genome-wide chromatin organization and suggest novel approaches to therapeutically target BAF mutant cancers. Overall design: RNA-seq samples for knockouts of BAF complex in the HAP1 cell line.
Systematic characterization of BAF mutations provides insights into intracomplex synthetic lethalities in human cancers.
Cell line, Subject
View SamplesIRAK-4 is an essential component of the signal transduction complex downstream of the IL-1- and Toll-like receptors. Though regarded as the first kinase in the signaling cascade, the role of IRAK-4 kinase activity versus its scaffold function is still controversial. In order to investigate the role of IRAK-4 kinase function in vivo, knock-in mice were generated by replacing the wild type IRAK-4 gene with a mutant gene encoding kinase deficient IRAK-4 protein (IRAK-4 KD). Analysis of bone marrow macrophages obtained from WT and IRAK-4 KD mice with a number of experimental techniques demonstrated that the IRAK-4 KD cells greatly lack responsiveness to stimulation with the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) agonist LPS. One of the techniques used, microarray analysis, identified IRAK-4 kinase-dependent LPS response genes and revealed that the induction of LPS-responsive mRNAs was largely ablated in IRAK-4 KD cells. In summary, our results suggest that IRAK-4 kinase activity plays a critical role in TLR4-mediated induction of inflammatory responses.
IRAK-4 kinase activity-dependent and -independent regulation of lipopolysaccharide-inducible genes.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesMicroarray analysis was used for a global investigation of the cellular effects of acute 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) exposure on Saccharomyces cerevisiae over time. TFM is used to control sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) populations in the Lake Champlain and Great Lakes regions. Little is known about the changes in gene expression due to TFM exposure so this time course microarray study was performed to reveal significantly altered patterns of gene expression when yeast cultures were exposed to 0.05mM TFM over four hours.
Exposure to the lampricide 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol results in increased expression of carbohydrate transporters in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Time
View SamplesJuvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common chronic childhood rheumatic disease in the Western world. To identify novel JIA predisposing loci, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 814 Caucasian JIA cases and 3058 Caucasian controls was completed. After adjusting for the most significant HLA associations, the strongest novel associations included rs6479891 (10q21, odds ratio (OR)=1.59, P=1.3x10-8) and rs10761747 (OR=1.34, P=4.0x10-5) within JMJD1C; rs12719740 (15q26, OR=1.47, P=3.3x10-7) near FAM169B; rs4688011 (3q13, OR=1.33, P=1.1x10-4) within C3orf1 and rs4254850 (4q31, OR=0.85, P=7.8x10-3) near IL15. Eleven SNPs were genotyped in Caucasian replication cohorts (1744 cases, 7010 controls) and meta-analysis continued to provide evidence for association with three of the SNPs (rs6479891, P=4.3x10-5; rs12719740, P=5.2x10-4; rs4688011, P=3.6x10-7). Analysis of expression data from 68 JIA cases and 23 controls overlapping in the GWAS cohort1 and published lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL)2 showed cis eQTL associations for JMJD1C SNPs (P=0.01 and P=1.6x10-6, respectively), and the C3orf1 SNP (P=5.7x10-6).
Genome-wide association analysis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis identifies a new susceptibility locus at chromosomal region 3q13.
Sex, Specimen part, Disease, Disease stage, Race
View SamplesNormal human bronchial epithelial cells were studied under four different conditions: control, pressure 30 cmH2O, AG1478 (1 microM), and pressure plus AG1478 at 1, 3, and 8 hours, all in the absence of exogenous EGF.
An EGFR autocrine loop encodes a slow-reacting but dominant mode of mechanotransduction in a polarized epithelium.
Specimen part
View SamplesBiliary atresia (BA) is a rare cholestatic disease of unknown etiology that affects infants and shows an incidence of 1 out of 18,000 live births in Europe (1). The first therapeutic option is a timely performed portoenterostomy. However, the majority of patients suffer from a progressive inflammatory process, which leads to complete destruction of the extra- and intrahepatic biliary system followed by end-stage liver cirrhosis. Hence, BA is the leading indication for pediatric liver transplantation worldwide (2, 3). To understand the pathogenesis of the disease and improve theoutcome of BA patients, research has focused on the inflammatory process in liver and bile ducts, in which several factors are remarkably elevated, such as activated CD4 and CD8 T-cells, TNF alpha,IFN alpha and other proinflammatory TH1 cytokines (3-8). By the time of diagnosis, however, the disease has already reached an advanced state, characterized by the complete obstruction of the extrahepatic bile ducts with impaired bile flow and fibrosis or cirrhosis of the liver. Therefore, studies in humans focusing on the trigger mechanism of BA are limited due to the paucity of liver and availability of bile duct tissue for research. One infectious animal model has been developed, in which newborn Balb/c mice exclusively show the experimental BA phenotype after infection with rhesus rotavirus (RRV) (9, 10). This model allows the analysis of the inflammatory reactions in liver and bile ducts at early steps in the development of bile duct atresia (11-20). Furthermore, inbred mouse strains have been shown to have a different susceptibility for the development of experimental BA, suggesting that Balb/c mice have an immunological gap responsible for disease progression (10, 12). The aim of this study was to identify key genes responsible for the BA phenotype by comparing the transcriptomes at an early time point after virus infection, i.e. before bile duct atresia, between two mouse strains with different susceptibilities to BA. Differences in the virus titration and the clinical course of infected mice were analyzed, and variations in the hepatic gene response assessed by comparative microarray assays were correlated to variances in the hepatic inflammatory reaction.
Susceptibility to experimental biliary atresia linked to different hepatic gene expression profiles in two mouse strains.
Specimen part
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